" FINAL ESTIMATE: The figure for the dead and missing is not less than 3000. This statement is now beyond reasonable doubt. Adding up the conservative suggestions made above, the figure is reasonably certainly 3750 dead. More than that it is still not possible to say, except to allow that the real figure for the dead could be possibly double 3000, or even higher. Only further research will resolve the issue. "

Question: who has done that "further research" that allows us to move from the Catholic Commission's 3,750 to 20,000? Let alone Tendai Biti's 30,000?

This is what else the CC says on the 'dissidents', specifically Super ZAPU, which was armed and trained by South Africa:

" Super ZAPU was the group of South African backed dissidents, which operated in Southern Matabeleland from late 1982 until mid-1984. Super ZAPU consisted of probably fewer than 100 members who were actually actively deployed in Zimbabwe. They were largely recruited from refugee camps and led by ex-ZIPRA members, who had been retrained in South Africa, in the covert operation known as Operation Drama. A Zimbabwean Government briefing paper on the situation in 1983 conceded "the recent efforts of the Fifth Brigade in Matabeleland have offered the South Africans another highly motivated dissident movement on a plate". Some sources claim that it was once again Matt Calloway, an ex-member of the Rhodesian CIO who acted as a double agent for the South Africans, who was a key player in the campaign to recruit from Dukwe Refugee camp in Botswana.

While they operated, South Africa provided ammunition for Super ZAPU, and some of this found its way to other dissident groups in the country: arms and ammunition used by dissidents frequently indicated South Africa as the source of origin, particularly during 1983. Super ZAPU were also directly responsible for the deaths of white farmers in southern Matabeleland, during their time of operation. "

Were they again operative during 2000? Just wondering out loud.
Gukurahundi was not genocide, not by any stretch
02/01/2013 00:00:00
by Mai Jukwa

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has called the Gukurahundi killings acts of “madness.” His ever-eager opponents seize on this semantic ambiguity as an admission of guilt. It’s a fanciful argument. The killings were two-way and they were indeed madness. The president is right to describe them as such.

The objective political question is to discover whose madness the President was referring to. It is rather simplistic to assume that Mugabe was attacking his own office and government when he made that statement. He was not.

On November 28, 1987, the New York Times published a special report on Zimbabwe. The report led with the story of a savage massacre that was carried out by dissidents. Eight white Pentecostal missionaries and children were brutally slaughtered.

Kirby, of the Commercial Farmers Union, unequivocally blamed the dissidents and complained that the violence had gone on for too long. At the time there was never a question of whether or not dissidents existed.

At the time the orthodoxy recognised the dissidents as an armed Matebele rebel group. Their aim was to protest the unfair treatment of Nkomo as well as his Ndebele supporters. This was the position held by both Western and African governments. The dissidents were real. That narrative now seems to be undergoing creative reinterpretation but one cannot rewrite history.

Geoff Nyarota was at the time working as editor of Chronicle. In one article he demanded that the government of Robert Mugabe “hit them hard.” Who was he referring to? His opponents, in the mold of men like Brilliant Mhlanga, claim he was urging the security forces to attack “innocent civilians who were being butchered by the Fifth Brigade.” This is nonsense. He was talking about the dissidents.

Drawing back to the analysis by journalist Andrew Meldrum in the New York Times, he said: “Western diplomats in the region say the dissidents are believed to be receiving supplies and training from neighboring South Africa. Some weapons have been traced to South Africa, and Radio Truth, a station that supports the dissidents, is beamed into Zimbabwe from South Africa.”

He added:“The dissidents have selected white farmers as targets to gain international attention, to discredit the Mugabe Government and to earn the support of poor black peasants who live near large prosperous white farms.”

That last point is important. It points out that the dissidents wooed the support of poor black peasants. The reader will recognise that it is almost impossible for a guerilla movement to survive without aid from the local community. Whether that support is given of free volition or through coercion is an entirely different matter.

This is why Ian Smith began a concerted effort to drive peasants into Keeps. He recognised that the Freedom Fighters were getting essential support from the locals. Without this aid they could not hide and they could not eat.

History gives a clear account of how the Rhodesian forces dealt with villagers who were found to have assisted the terrorists, as the white settlers preferred to call them. People were beaten, maimed and sometimes killed.

The same was true of the dissidents. They received aid from the local population. This is fact. We can argue the degree of that support but not as to whether or not it existed. Denying it is nothing short of self-imposed intellectual amnesia. Whether or not this support was offered of free volition or out of coercion is open to debate.

I could carry on pointing out to fact upon fact that makes clear that dissidents were a real security threat but that is needless. Any objective analyst can look through historical records and quickly establish the facts of the matter. Others who subscribe to adolescent conspiracy theories will tell us that dissidents did not exist.

Let us assume that dissidents did not exist and this was all a clever ploy by Mugabe. The question is what were his intentions? Why did he do it? Surely it was not merely a game for the sport of it; the man must have had a motive for carrying out such actions.

One conspiracy holds that this was Mugabe’s attempt at genocide in the style of Hitler’s extermination of the Jews. He supposedly wanted to wipe out the Ndebele people. It’s an idiotic argument but this has not stopped it getting traction.

If this was indeed Mugabe’s aim why did he stop? There was nothing standing in his way. The international community was fully behind him. He had the security services at his full disposal as well as rowdy Shonas who could be readily conscripted into service if the need arose. So why did the evil old ogre not exterminate the Ndebeles as the conspiracy theory goes?

Another equally absurd argument says that Mugabe recognised Nkomo’s political abilities and feared that he would lose an election to him. The Gukurahundi killings were designed to dismantle his support.

At the very surface such an approach seems counter-productive. Instead of diminishing Nkomo’s support, the said killings served to solidify the region against Robert Mugabe who they viewed as the architect of the violence that swept across that region. No political strategist under heaven would suggest you brutalise your opponents’ supporters in the hope that they vote for you in the next election. It is just plain silly.

The truth of it is that Nkomo never stood a chance against Mugabe in an election. Even if Nkomo miraculously rose from the dead and ran for office, Robert Mugabe would win a decisive victory against him. It is the tribal nature of our politics. I am not here to argue the good or evil of this reality, I simply point out the facts as they stand.

Welshman Ncube is ten times the leader that Tsvangirai will ever be. However Tsvangirai will defeat him in any and every election even if the Shona electorate heard reports that the man had moved to new sexual heights and was now regularly mating with a donkey. Tribal politics! That is the fact of it.

So this notion that Mugabe somehow feared Nkomo on the political battlefield is just nonsense. It is important that we deal with the facts and put these silly arguments to rest once and for all. Gukurahundi was not genocide. There was never an attempt to exterminate the Ndebele people.

So what really happened? The same thing that happened in Iraq and is happening in Afghanistan, soldiers on the frontline overstep their mandate. We all saw those pictures of the torture that was carried out by American forces in Abu Ghraib.

In an effort to scare the Ndebele generality from assisting the dissidents, the security forces engaged in indiscriminate killings. This was partly out of frustration as they could not get their hands on the fast moving dissidents. This was wrong and yes crimes were certainly committed. However it is one thing to call for Bush to be tried for crimes against humanity but quite a stretch of things if one begins to charge that Bush was attempting to exterminate the Iraqi’s.

During the armed struggle for our independence, how many people were beaten to death or maimed by Rhodesian forces on the charge that they were supporting the freedom fighters? But we have never heard anyone charge that Ian Smith was attempting to exterminate the blacks. That would have been nonsense. It was war and in war bad things happen.

Some will point out to the mass graves with innocent civilians. I will point you to Chimoio and Nyadzonya. Some will point out the attacks on individuals in places like Gweru. I will point you to American soldiers who shot any male in sight after suffering the death of a colleague from an IED.

It was war, it is war! I do not stand here to argue the good or evil of it but simply to put the facts into perspective.

Gukurahundi was no genocide. Period!

Amai Jukwa is a loving mother of three. She respects Robert Mugabe, is amused by Tsvangirai and feels sorry for Mutambara.

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Mai Jukwa

The facts are quite straightforward:

1 - Dissidents were a threat to national security.

2 - Dissidents were given material support by black peasants in that region.

3 - Dissidents were attempting to wage a tribal civil war.

4 - Robert Mugabe's actions were in response to this dissident threat.

5 - The world supported Robert Mugabe's actions.

Others may wish the reality was not as straightforward and entertain foolish ideas about genocide and how Mugabe wanted to exterminate a particular tribe. This is nonsense.
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Songolina Jikijela

You can say that again bro, it was power achieved from a rowdy group that needed to be put in check. Mugabe did the right thing during that time and the problem was quickly contained.
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chigudo

If we as zimbabweans can not value the sanctity of life then we are no different from the Hitlers, Idi Amins, Pol Pots, Stalins, Bandas and Ceausescus we so much despise. When people start saying these things just happened and let bygones be bygones this does not solve the issue of physiological, mental, physical and spiritual scars endured by the victims even in our generation. Zanoo pee eff needs to seriously own up to this sad era of our history and culprits bought to book. The notion that people were killed in Nyadzona and Chimio yet still people were not brought to book under the guise of post independence reconciliation is still injustice laid squarely on the zanoids. Gukurahundi has been classified as genocide, the same applies to the the Marambatsvinas and Mavhotera Papi as there is a deliberate and systematic attempt to exterminate racial, cultural and political groups .Zanoids have a pechant of cover ups and an unquenchable desire of violence coupled with corruption, nepotism and tribalism these ingredients will serve to seriously expose their short commings sooner rather than later. Once zanoo pee eff is booted out of power there will be serious retribution and they know it….that is why being in the GNU it is their last chance saloon.
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ZackieBwerawa

Why leave out the lying duo of Blair and Bush in your list of those that "cannot value the sanctity of life"?
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chigudo

Blair and bush are actual HEROES they are saving this world from SATANIC ghadaffi and TALIBAN . they are heroes for removing tyrants
In fact very soon i hope they move out ZANU PF TRASH
WE WILL CALL IT MURAMBATSVINA 2
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AMGML63

Man get a job i say
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Cde Manesi

Did your brothers the dissidents respect the sanctity of life?
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chigudo

SINCE WHEN HAVE YOU CIO AND ZANU PF CARED FOR ANYONE
I CANT WAIT UNTIL THE DAY THE AMERICAN AND BRITISH FORCES COME RUMBLING IN AND TEAR YOU A NEW ANUS
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

you are a day dreaming idiot. Kepp quiet you fool!
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chigudo

TO HELL WITH YOU ZANU PF DOG
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

I mean your relatives?
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa

During which period was Robert Mugabe Knighted by the British?
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Grace Jones

It beggars belief why Zanu pf pests who lacks intellectual rigour are given platforms to spew utter rubbish ,just to perpetuate privilege status within this party at the expense of traumatised political victims who have not healed .

Catholic bishops carried out two enquiries to the extent findings were suppressed by Zanu ,just like 2008 political violence .

The healing process was straight up fraudently which lacked institutional frame work ,victim based ,but cacophony rhetoric by Mugabe ,if Gukurahundi was not a crime then let us open an enquiry ?.

Robert Mugabe is clinical narcissist ,angry about his father and has killed every ethnic represented by the Zimbabwe flag ,form kwa Bulawayo ,minorities ( White farmers ) to all Malawian third generation immigrants in the cities .This man has no respect for human life ,even his own circle has been felled by his hand .Like all other genocidal leaders including all the planners like Amai Jukwa must be stopped and hold accountable for his past crimes .

VERMIN LIKE AMAI JUKWA ARE PLANNERS BEHIND ZIMBABWE VIOLENT HISTORY AFTER INDEPENDENCE ,HELL BENT TO DRIVE A WEDGE ON SOUND HEALING PROCESS .AND SINCE THIS " THING " HAS BLATANTLY DENIED SUCH ATROCITIES .WHEN THE TIME COMES THEY SHALL BE PUT TO TASK REFERENCING THIS ARTICLE NOW CACHED ON INTERNET .

MR MODERATOR BRAVO FOR FIRST POSITION TO THE BOTTOM .YOU SHOULD BE VERY PROUD .
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Cde Manesi

Bloody homosexual, filthy, smelly rotten puussy, piece of ZANU garbage CDE MANESI***. You are the reason why some of our MDC African brothers view Morgan Tsvangison as a hero, indeed if he got a few ***s like u out of the way and back to where they belong , indeed each day that you remain in the mdc motherland you should be scared, because anytime we will come for your filthy zanu
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Tendausaru Mupfanechoya

you lost it chigudo, this is not the way to present yourself to the Global Village and God.You stoop so low here like a kindergaarten kid.
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Jenderenhunzi Surekwembudzi

Perps of violence are within our mists well known ,in fact top Zimbabwe Security echelons.The youths whom you armed since Gukurahundi to date are not that patriotic nor smart either .You should have taught them deceptive methods when conversing with strangers over a beer drink and a tummy tuck .

Mugabe is 88 ,sleeps during every meeting and wet his trousers so are the old Zanu old bags .

We want planners the likes of Savior and Mai Jukwa responsible for post independence atrocities .Continue to chase elephants with butterfly nets ,very soon we will shall know.Already you have halted land grabs .Dont worry son .Catch you later .
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Somerset Masikati

@ Elma. Bear with the gentleman if he does that he will die of poverty. Here is how the game works: 1 - The Editor promotes controversial news stories that trigger a deluge of responses; 2 - The responses translate into "hits" and the Editor gets paid & beats poverty. 3 - "Hits" bring advertisers & bingo, the Editor gets paid again! He can only practice the type of journalism you're referring to if he has a rich benefector, so I'm afraid you're being naive. All he needs to do to beat poverty is to play Zanu PF against the MDC fullstop. I don't blame him, though it's frustrating on occasions
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GreenBomber

My question for u woman is; did Nkomo, Ndabaningi & Tsvangirai ever plot to assassinate Mugabe .... the answer is No; they were just being framed by a dictator trying to monopolise political space .... in this light; how do u know that these dissidents were not just CIO agents just creating an excuse for Mugabe to meet his trabalistic ends, for how do u explain less than 50 dissidents terrorizing a country with an army as big as that of Zimbabwe for 5 yrs. How do u explain the death of thousands of people dying over the "rebellion" of only 50 people. And why were these dissidents never brought to justice or killed if they had no ties to Zanu pf.
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AMGML63

HOW DID YOU COME TO KNOW THAT THEY WERE ONLY FIFTY DISSIDENTS, WERE YOU ONE OF THEM? ANOTHER THING IS THAT THREE WELL ARMED MEN CAN AFFORD TO TERRORISE AND TORTURE THE WHOLE VILLAGE. YOU MAY FIND OUT THAT AMERICA SPENT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS AND SWARMS OF SOLDIERS HUNTING FOR ONE MAN, OSAMA. IN ALL COUNTRIES BE IT IN REALITY OR MOVIES ONE MAN CAN CAUSE QUITE A STIR AND THOUSANDS OF POLICE AND ARMY TROOPS MAY BE DEPLOYED TO GET HOLD OF THAT ONE PERSON ONLY. One man can kill a million aggressors to protect himself alone if he has the means. Each and every life lost to the dissidents was very important and thousands of other people might have died whilst trying to save those whose lives were at stake.
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Somerset Masikati

These facts are also straightforward:
1 - The Fifth Brigade was established outside Constitutional parameters and only answerable to Robert Mugabe.
2 - Those targeted and killed only spoke a certain language.
3 - At the time Mugabe openly used inciteful and hate filled language, just as he does know.
4 - The Fifth Brigade operated outside of normal Army structures. Even today there is no such a Brigade suggesting a clearly sinister agenda.
5 - A disproportionately large militia was used to contain a disproportionately small threat.
6 - You have admitted that innocent women and children were indiscriminately and unlawfully maimed and killed and drawn a comparison with the American experience but where is the redress in Zwe?
7 - While in America the perpetrators were prosecuted in Zwe Shiri et al were lauded as heroes and promoted leading to the current impunity we see today.
8 - Mugabe commissioned the Chihambakwe Commission yet its report never saw the light of day why? Is this the behaviour of an innocent person?
9 - The same approach used during Gukurahundi continues to be used today. In March 2008 didn't Mugabe say "a mere pen / X cannot defeat a bullet?"
10 - The West supported Mugabe because a) of the Cold War politics at the time; b) It was a still newly independent nation and he was given the benefit of the doubt; c) There was a State of Emergency and Mugabe controlled the flow of the information!
11 - What is the "political strategy" behind the killings in April - June 2008? Or is it just "plain silliness"?
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Jacques Marneweck

9- A clear point that Mugabe only respects violence and never had any respect for the people of Zim.
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Somerset Masikati

@ Jacques - true that. I would add that:
1 - Mugabe is a power hungry dictator given to wanting to retain power by all
means necessary.
2 - Mugabe has meted the same treatment to all political opponents since 1980. It is his modus operandi.
3 - He holds an irrational fear towards all political opponents. His response is not shaped by how credible a threat a political opponent is towards him but by the mere fact that a political opponent dares oppose him, the "mighty" Robert Mugabe and wants to displace him and usurp his power.
4 - The passage of time naturally increases the size of victims and makes
relinquishing power untenable for fear of reprisals making the process "cyclical".
5 - Once he dies, there is a risk that those in his "cabal" will also try to repeat this process.
6 - This is why we are stuck with him & the evil system that he has built! So yes, Mugabe committed genocide and MLF, while misplaced is a direct result of his actions!
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Rinopisa Chogugudza

A responsible news editor would have put the headline of this irresponsible article as "Was Gukurahundi A Genocide". Allowing Zanuists to make sweeping statements that touch nerves as these will have a backlash on this publication. Judging from the last few articles allowed space here, It simply exposes the owners Mathuthu and Madzingo as Zanu sympathises. For starters, I will no longer put any adverts on this news website. I have removed Newzimbabwe from bieng my home page.
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Somerset Masikati

@ Rinopisa. Bear with the gentleman if he does that he will die of poverty. Here is how the game works: 1 - The Editor promotes controversial news stories that trigger a deluge of responses; 2 - The responses translate into "hits" and the Editor gets paid & beats poverty. 3 - "Hits" bring advertisers & bingo, the Editor gets paid again! He can only practice the type of journalism you're referring to if he has a rich benefector, so I'm afraid you're being naive. All he needs to do to beat poverty is to play Zanu PF against the MDC fullstop. I don't blame him, though it's frustrating on occasions.
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Rinopisa Chogugudza

Lets agree then that this editor has behaved similarly to bieng a paid referee in a contest where two neighbours shit on each doorsteps and their neighbours watching.
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chigudo

AMAI JUKWAi is that why your mother is a ZANU porn star who would even do a bestiality porn movie just to prove that you are the sibling of eddie the ZANU BRED horse. She thought by doing with a ZANU bred horse that would probably add some brain matter to your under developed brains. Both of you AND JUKWA are just displaying how thick as your mothers fannies you are. You guys have given us the ZANU PF blueprint of how to build a ZANU PF IDIOT and thats both of you……………kaboooooooooom.
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Rinopisa Chogugudza

Genocide or not genocide, there is no justification to murder 20k civilians in a war or no war situation. This level of self confessed madness simply demonstrates that those who made the confession were and are not in sound mind to have or continue presiding over a government in any country. The state of affairs in Zimbabwe is clear testimony that a man who has confessed to madness was allowed to continue running the highest office in Zimbabwe. Its also unfortunate that the plague of madness has continued to spread hence you see the likes of Mai Jukwa.
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sublatern

loooool the world supported Mugabe's actions?? what in gods name does this spin doctress smoke??next thing you will be telling me bush was right to wage the middle east war because the so called "world" was by his side.kindergarten reasoning at best

the fact that you clowns have been trying to absolve your leader of any blame for the last 25 years serves to show that deep down your conscious awareness is at logger heads with what you purport on this site

you cant sugar coat it mate you and your evil tyran leader are going to hell.

One thing for sure. Zanu will NEVER win in Matebeleland .NEVER in all infinite lifetime.We know that hurts you.
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Mozart

You should be glad as grotesque as you views are your government and your northern brothers and sisters share your views 20000% you are speaking for the majority as a result they are just cowards to just say it. I guess they will sleep better tonight knowing that one them has shared their feelings.
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chigudo

MUGABE DEATH IN OFFICE. The second route is when they pass away in office. Initially, the death notice is greeted with mournful grief and uncontrollable wailing in memory of the departed leader. BUT IN OUR CASE WE WILL BE HAPPY AND OVER JOYED WHEN MUGABE DIES But most often it is crocodile tears that are shed. A few days later, champagne bottles are uncorked, serious partying, wild celebration and joy erupt in some quarters. The village brass band blows up a storm with chickens doing the “Disco Duck.” Then suddenly the music stops – that’s when the next “rat” takes over power. Here is the list:

1. Gabriel Léon M’ba of Gabon died of cancer in Nov 1967

2. Houari Boumedienne of Algeria died of a rare blood disease in Dec 1978

3. Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya died of natural causes in Aug 1978

4. Agostinho Neto of Angola died in 1979

5. Samora Moisés Machel of Mozambique died in a helicopter crash in 1986

6. Seyni Kountché of Niger died of brain tumor in Nov 1987.

7. Felix Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast died of prostate cancer in Dec 1993

Your mother broke custom and opened up to your rodent eating mother conceived and gave birth to an even more retarded idiot THAT IS JUKWA. Whoever said law must not be applied in retrospect must have been your relative otherwise your father would be in jail for KILLING INNOCENT CIVILLIANS Since you are grown up and abortion can not practicaly be performed you will have to be hanged as you are a product of rape. IT COULD POSSIBLY BE THAT YOU WERE RAPED BY MA GADEN BOYI
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chigudo

1 ZANU PF IS A THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY
2- ZANU PF IS BEING SUPPORTED BY VOTE BUYING
3 ZANU PF CONTINUES TO WAGE WAR AND STEAL ELECTIONS
4 ROBERT MUGABE HAS DESTROYED THE JEWEL OF AFRICA
5 THE WORLD IS AGAINST ROBERT MUGABE
6 TO HELL WITH YOUR ARTICLE OF RUBBISH MURDER IS MURDER AND THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW THIS WAS GENOCIDE
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chigudo

More than 20 000 innocent people are believed to have been murdered by members of the North Korea-trained Fifth Brigade
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AMGML63

Where do you fit in? You are the only mkeda i know with political issues, hehe
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chigudo

WHERE DO YOU FIT IN WITH THE KILLING OF 20 0000 CIVILLIANS
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AMGML63

I was an infant. You still didnt answer my question.
I also think you're trying to cause a rift between two great tribes. It wont work because you're a nobody, with no job in addition.
You are trying to incite tribal hatred through the internet, without even disclosing your identity, i pity you.
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chigudo

Forgiving Mugabe is out of question.He has killed a lot of people, wht would they think and feel if that murderer walks free? Thousands of people have died and they are still dieing.I will not vote for forgiving him.He deserves no mercy at all.
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chigudo

There is nothing legitimate about MUGABEi and ZANU PF. They are both POWER HUNGRYwhose real strength lies in the appalling mess made WHEN THEY ORDERED GENOCIDE AND KILLED 20 000 CIVILIANS
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Tsvatu

Your article really is a good way to see who was wrong when it comes to the topic:"Gukurahundi", i really hope u continue to shed more light to us on the topic because some us just don't know what really happened.
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gynaacologist

Could you please check in at my offices in Avenues immmediately. You seem to be displaying symptoms of a severe candida infection that is spreading into your brain. In the meantime while you are still trying to find your way there I recommend that you take large quantities of yourghut with active culture, it helps to restore your microbial balance down there subduing some of the symptoms in the process especially the itchness that causes you to be restless and pensive leading to hallucinations. Your condition makes you insensitive to the plight of other people, you are inconsiderate of how your words will make the next person feel.
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Nicholas Banda

The research conducted by the writer derives from sources written by other so called historians, who for their own purpose of writing chose to narrate and project the image that there was no genocide in Zimbabwe.

Further to that the writer fails to analyse the information he obtained as to what was the purpose and who was intended to receive and be brain washed by such information.I wont go into the gukurahundi atrocities in detail but I can only feel sorry for the writer who in this day and age has failed to rise above partisan and polarized politics based on tribal orientations. It is the people like the writer who continue to drag Zimbabwe backwards with hogwash and unwarranted stories, that continue to poison anything to do with Zimbabwe.While the whole world is looking for better economic stability and growth, the writer continues with his filth and vulgar views about history that can never be changed.

We all know what happened in Zimbabwe during the gukurahundi and for now let us leave it that. Jukwa or who ever is behind this article should divert his intellectual effort and contribute ideas that will assist Zimbabwe to have a sustainable economic growth and be competitive with the rest of the world.I don't know what planet the writer lives on but, potholes and lack of healthcare, coupled with poor economic growth warrants such discussion to take place.

So in conclusion Ms Jukwa or who ever, stop trying to sell yourself short and contribute positively to the well being of your country. As for Mugabe and his cohorts, their day will come.Mugabe is not too far away from meeting his maker so you can be assured that he knows and is aware of his sins.
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Ras

Wataura apa mface. When has killing unarmed and defenseless civilians ever been called a war. Zanu people have an obsession of comparing themselves to America. Who said people didn't die in chimoi and other places in Mozambique. It doesn't change the fact that Mugabe killed 20 000+ Zimbabweans in Matabeleland and the midlands. Zanu people are known for singing for their supper, Mai jukwa is no different. We cannot change history ,Mai jukwa. Truth be said,Mugabe has killed a lot more people over the years by depriving us of food and a decent healthcare and chocking us on these deathtraps we call highways and roads.Knowing zanu as much as I do,they will find some accidents in America to justify the carnage here in Zimbabwe. We have this one Mpofu guy on a pledging spree. He is pledging to assist in each and every cause in Zimbabwe. Like a doctor who poisons you so that he can cure you he forgets that his looting is the reason why we are so poor. Because he is zanu, he compares himself to FEMA.
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Malikongwa

This is a highly offensive piece authored by some clueless half-wit trying to seek relevance. I wonder why the editors entertain such divisive hogwash, dont you understand that real people with families were killed? This website surely has gone to the dogs!!
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Mozart

Because we are still in the 1980 election mode. Ncube exist and tribalism has to be used to arise the negative feelings about him and his party. So as to leave the 2 other men. They dislike Ncube but don't fear him. All they are doing is evoking the tribal card to quickly casting him aside. The writer knows Nkomo was the national leader we needed but our Northern brothers what can I say where quickly persuaded otherwise. It's nothing new.
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Somerset Masikati

@ Malikongwa. Bear with the gentleman if he does that he will die of poverty. Here is how the game works: 1 - The Editor promotes controversial news stories that trigger a deluge of responses; 2 - The responses translate into "hits" and the Editor gets paid & beats poverty. 3 - "Hits" bring advertisers & bingo, the Editor gets paid again! He can only practice the type of journalism you're referring to if he has a rich benefector, so I'm afraid you're being naive. All he needs to do to beat poverty is to play Zanu PF against the MDC fullstop. I don't blame him, though it's frustrating on occasions
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truth0001

W Ncube is 10 times the leader Tsvangirai can ever be!!!! i totally agree with that!!! this makes me ashamed to be zimbabwean when they would not vote for ncube because of tribalism. i also think that Ncube needs to strategise on his marketing, i have repeately said he has not really taken advanage of his corrupt free image. he should not waste time attacking zanu..because MDC/T does that for him..Ncube MUST focus on attacking protest vote and present his party as the alternative, that way he will wing a more MP seats in cities and possibky become leader of the opposition..and in next elections of 2018 he would leap onto zanu's rural strong holds and can become president of zimbabwe. i can sleep well with ncube zimbabwe president BUT can never sleep if tsvangirai happens to be president, as that flip floper can be easily tricked to sell a whole country to the west...willy nilly..
ncube needs large placards that read , NO TO PROTEST VOTE, his election slogan just has to be that, that simple...and so lets not use tribalism to excuse his inability to correctly strategise his election...DONT RUSH TO USE TRIBALISM, obama worked real hard to win electios and until we are REALLY satisfied that Ncube has done his best then we can cry tribalism

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A former Zimbabwean freedom fighter who, himself, was a victim of Gukurahundi says Britain and not South Africa was behind the 1980s massacres that left nearly 30 000 innocent civilians from Matabeleland and the Midlands dead. Douglas Moyo* says South Africa was just a front. Britain was the brains behind the massacres. All it wanted was to stall land redistribution which was only implemented 20 years after independence but with devastating consequences. President Robert Mugabe’s government was forced to “grab” land from mostly white commercial farmers in 2000 but was immediately slapped with sanctions and international isolation.

The country plunged from an agricultural and economic powerhouse to a basket case. Nearly a third of its population fled the country. Inflation soared, and now stands at a record 3 700 percent, the highest in the world. Moyo, a former Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) cadre, who was integrated into the Zimbabwe National Army and was attested to 1:2 Brigade, says he was picked up from his hospital bed at Mpilo on 11 February 1982 soon after the discovery of arms caches on properties owned by the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) around Bulawayo. Several other high ranking ZAPU officials including the ZIPRA intelligence chief, Dumiso Dabengwa, had already been arrested. Moyo, who was based at Ntabazinduna, had been involved in a car accident and was recuperating at the central hospital. He says he was whisked to Stops Camp in Bulawayo where he was initially detained before being shunted to Esigodini and finally to the dungeons at Goromonzi where he spent two years. No one knew that he had been detained or where he was. Not even his fiancée. He was never charged and was equally never officially released. He was just dumped outside the bus rank along Batsch Street on 21 November 1984.

After finding his way home, he discovered that he had been saved by a white police officer whom he only remembers as Inspector Roberts. Roberts had learnt that Moyo was being detained at Goromonzi and had informed his fiancée who in turn sought help from Bulawayo lawyer, advocate Kennedy Sibanda, who was later to become a High Court Judge. There was another tragedy. Security forces had killed his grandfather while he was in detention. They were allegedly looking for him and wanted his grandfather to tell them where he was. Moyo, now a staunch member of the war veterans association which has propped President Robert Mugabe since the land invasions, says it is a delusion to think that South African was behind Gukurahundi.

Several writers have claimed that South Africa was involved in destablising its northern neighbours to prolong its apartheid rule. According to: Breaking the Silence: a report on the disturbances in Matabeleland and the Midlands from 1980 to 1998, compiled by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace together with the Legal Resources Foundation, South African intervention in Zimbabwe was two-fold.

It consisted of the systematic misinformation to the government, and also military attacks on the government and on the country’s infrastructure.

The report, which was released 10 years after the disturbances, says the discovery of arms caches which caused the “final rift between ZANU-PF and ZAPU”, was almost certainly engineered by a South African agent, Matt Calloway. Calloway was a head of a branch of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) at the time the arms were stockpiled but later defected to South Africa.

Moyo, who trained in military intelligence in East German specialising in reconnaissance and urban guerrilla warfare, said South Africa was just used as a front for western imperialism. If it were behind the disturbances why were they concentrated in Tsholotsho, Lupane and Nkayi and not in Plumtree, Beitbridge and Chiredzi which are closer to its border? he queried. “The only country that had a reason to destabilise Zimbabwe was Britain. The war was not political. It was about who controlled the country’s wealth,” he said.

“Britain relinquished power without a fight in Zambia, Malawi and Botswana because the people there were fighting more for political independence. The issue was different in Zimbabwe. People were fighting for the equitable distribution of the country’s wealth. Their struggle was centred on land, hence their slogan mwana wevhu- son of the soil.” Britain had never wanted to surrender power to a black government in Zimbabwe because it had invested heavily in the country. Most of the talks aimed at a settlement from the time the then Rhodesian government declared unilateral independence were just meant to hoodwink the black nationalists that it was doing something when it actually sympathised with the Rhodesian government as it protected its investments. It even turned a blind eye as British oil companies busted sanctions to keep the Rhodesian economy going. Moyo said at Lancaster House, where the agreement that ushered Zimbabwe’s independence was panel beaten, Britain tried to avoid the land issue by all means and put pressure on Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique to force the liberation movements, ZAPU and the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), to sign the agreement which guaranteed whites a stake in the government for a decade, before the land issue had been thrashed out.

“After the agreement had been signed, Britain went all out to erase the fact that the liberation movements had won a military victory. It called for the integration of the liberation fighters into a new army that was dominated by the former Rhodesian soldiers. That army was retrained by the British Military Advisory Team (BMAT). The aim was to turn political soldiers to regular men who would merely follow orders which was totally against what they had been trained to do: to make sure land was equitably redistributed as this was the main reason why most had gone to war.

” Despite its victory as Lancaster, Moyo says Britain was disappointed when the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe set up a government of national unity. Though it included some whites, it had taken in top ZAPU leaders and this meant that with a united front it only had 10 years to deliver land. It had to find a way to stop this. With most newly independent African states entering into conflicts soon after the British surrendered power, Britain decided to start one in Zimbabwe. It could not start a political war because ZAPU and ZANU were already working together. So it engineered a tribal war. Moyo says it started by frustrating ZIPRA cadres, but mainly the Ndebele-speaking ones. Clashes broke out between members of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and those of ZIPRA.

The British slowly steered the clashes away from a political war to a tribal war pitting the Shona against the Ndebele. “It is a fallacy to say Gukurahundi was a clash between ZAPU and ZANU. If it was, why was the fighting confined to Matabeleland and only the Ndebele speaking areas of the Midlands?” Moyo argues. “People forget that ZAPU was a national party. Its top leaders were from all over Zimbabwe. We had people like Josiah Chinamano, Marange, Nyashanu, Chinamasa, and Madzimbamuto, just to name a few but there were no clashes in Mashonaland, Manicaland or Masvingo.

Why? Because the British did not want a conflict between ZAPU and ZANU. They wanted a tribal war, because as long as the war was seen to be tribal, it would not end.” While Moyo’s argument seems to be purely hypothetical, it seems to be backed by reports that the CIO was responsible for igniting Gukurahundi. The difference between Moyo’s theory and the widely accepted argument is that while most analysts including Breaking the Silence say Calloway was responsible for igniting the conflict, Moyo says the British intelligence agency, MI6, was. Its man was Calloway’s boss, Ken Flower, head of the CIO. Flower was appointed head of CIO in 1963 after the dissolution of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (a federation of what is now Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi). He had been deputy police commissioner for Rhodesia. An entry in Wikipedia says “astonishingly Prime Minister Robert Mugabe was content to keep Ken Flower in the role of head of CIO after majority rule in 1980, when the country’s name changed to Zimbabwe”. It adds: “This was seen by some commentators as proof that Flower had worked covertly and intermittently with the British intelligence services to undermine Ian Smith’s government, and was in sharp contrast to the treatment of General Peter Walls, chief of the Rhodesian Armed Forces, who was exiled and deprived of Zimbabwean citizenship in 1980.”

British scientist and friend of Ian Smith, Dr Kitty Little, who had a keen interest in the Lancaster House talks and went there to meet Smith, is reported to have insisted that Flower was, or had been, a member of Britain's intelligence section, MI6. She said that Ken Flower might qualify for the Guinness Book of Records as the “doublest of double agents”! While head of Rhodesian intelligence, she said, Flower also worked for MI6, the KGB, East European intelligence, the CIA, and a number of African intelligence networks.

He reportedly worked with the "D" group of MI6 operatives who “did nasty things and had them blamed on Ian Smith". In his autobiography Serving Secretly, Flower says when he took up the post of head of CIO he felt it was essential to study intelligence systems elsewhere in the world and decided to start with Britain. He says he learnt a lot about how the “gamekeepers (MI5) and the poachers (MI6)” worked, but he also states that at the Lancaster House conference he got more information from the Foreign office than from British intelligence.

On South Africa’s involvement in instigating Gukurahundi, Flower says initially he thought they would not but he was wrong. He says he had constantly told Mugabe that South Africa “would not be so stupid or so short-sighted” to pursue a policy of destablisation on Zimbabwe. “How wrong I was!” he says.

“What could anyone like myself do to help whilst South Africans believe that they must ensure the failure of black government because this confirms the superiority of white government.” Obviously Flower would never have admitted that he instigated the massacres. But if he did nasty things and had them blamed on Smith, he could equally have done nasty things and have them blamed on South Africa. After all he too wanted to ensure the failure of a black government when he formed the Mozambiquan National Resistance Movement to fight against Samora Machel. Flower admits that he worked with South Africans while he was head of CIO and continued to work with them after retiring. He says Mugabe retained his services because while he was adamant that no black member of his government should associate with South Africa’s white regime, he “saw practical advantages in continuing the association via a white like myself.”

Moyo says British complicity in instigating Gukurahundi is also exposed in the selective manner in which they apportioned blame for the massacres. Britain distanced itself and those closely associated with it from the killings.

Blame was heaped on the CIO and Five Brigade yet Five Brigade was deployed more than a year after the disturbances and was withdrawn before they ended. Though it was responsible for the bulk of the killings, the role of the Police Support Unit and other army units is played down, perhaps because most of the army units were retrained by the British while Five Brigade was trained by North Koreans.

Most of the blame for the atrocities was heaped on State Security Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and head of Five Brigade, Perence Shiri, but there was little or no mention of Minister of State for Defence, Sidney Sekeremayi, or the commander of the army, Rex Nhongo who later changed his name to Solomon Mujuru.

Moyo believes this was deliberate. Ken Flower admits in his book that Mnangagwa had given him full control of the CIO. Moyo also says though nearly 30 000 people were killed during the massacres, including six white tourists some of whom were British and 16 missionaries who were butchered to death, there was no outcry from the British. At least they were not as outraged as they were during the “land grab” of 2000 onwards yet only 11 white farmers were killed over a period.

Instead, Mugabe was showered with awards by the West. He was awarded 13 honorary doctorate degrees three of them by United States universities and two by British ones. He was awarded the Africa Prize for Leadership for Sustainable End of Hunger and the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding. He chaired the World Solar Summit, the Commonwealth for three years, the G15 and was even awarded the Olympic Order of Gold for his contribution to Olympic ideals. He was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by Queen Elizabeth II. This entitled him to use the postnominal letters KCB, but not the title "Sir."

Incidentally all this happen before Mugabe started threatening to take over land from the whites, which he started in 1997 with the listing of more than 1 500 commercial farms. “No one raised an eyebrow or the issue of human rights during the massacres because British interests were not affected,” Moyo says. *The name of the freedom fighter has been changed to protect his identity.

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